Finally, Apple has a New COO

A long awaited position at Apple has finally been filled – COO (Chief Operating Officer). Apple Inc. officially appointed Jeff Williams as COO, a title left dormant for quite a while since Tim Cook (55) became Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in 2011 following the death of then-CEO Steve Jobs. Essentially, Williams has unofficially been COO of the company ever since Tim Cook took over as CEO, playing a vital role in operations at Apple.

Williams joined Apple in 1998 as Head of Worldwide Procurement. He was VP (vice president) of Operations in 2004, and since 2010, has been managing Apple’s service, support and supply chain, ensuring that Apple can deliver products even during times of high demand and low supply. Williams was also in charge of the development of the Apple Watch and the company’s corporate social responsibility initiatives.

He is often referred to as ‘Tim Cook’s Tim Cook’, giving importance to the role played by now-CEO Tim Cook to former CEO Steve Jobs before his untimely death.

"Jeff is hands-down the best operations executive I've ever worked with," Cook says.

Even after being awarded $66 million in restricted stock in 2012 and $20 million in 2014, The New Yorker said in an article that Williams still drove a Toyota Camry, until recently.

There were other changes to Apple’s top-level management:

• -          Philip Schiller, Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, will lead the Apple App Store.
• -          Tor Myhren, Chief Creative Officer and President of Grey New York (an advertising agency), will be promoted to VP of Marketing Communications, succeeding Hiroki Asai who leaves after spending 18 years at Apple
• -          Johny Srouji, who previously headed Apple’s semiconductor design and battery technology, will be promoted to Senior VP of Hardware Technologies

Apple’s top level management hasn’t seen much change since Scott Forstall, who headed Mobile Software, and John Browett, who headed Retail, were ousted. Since then, Apple has appointed Angela Ahrendts, previously CEO of Burberry Group, as Head of Retail, and Luca Maestri, of Xerox, as CFO.

“We are fortunate to have incredible depth and breadth of talent across Apple’s executive team,” Cook said.

Some people speculate that Williams will eventually succeed Cook as future CEO, however, an Apple executive who did not wish to be named said that the move by Apple did not imply anything.

If we look at market cap, Apple is the most valuable company in the world. However, in the past six months, their shares have gone down 14%.